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The 1st Reunion onboard HMS Belfast
15 October 1977

The 1st Reunion onboard HMS Belfast
15 October 1977

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In 1977 Norman Comb attended a reunion of ex-members of the Second Commission of C42 onboard HMS Belfast. The following year, an advertisement was placed in the Navy News asking shipmates interested in forming an Association to contact Gordon Gunstone at Sittingbourne. Norman wrote to Gordon as did Jim Rillett and a former P.T.I  whose name has been forgotten.

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Norman and Gordon met again at the 1977 RNA Reunion at the Queen Elizabeth Suite at the South Bank, London where there was a Royal Marine Band Concert and Parade of RNA Standards.  Contact was maintained, but sadly, Gordon became very ill with cancer and died the following year. In 1985 in the Scarborough RNA Club, a photograph of three sailors in uniform enjoying a drink in the Shanghai Naval Club many years before was being admired by the same three.  This led to a meeting in Newcastle of Norman, George Dixon, Chick Henson. Pat Ellward, and Walter Clark, under the clock in the Railway Station.  Good beer and good company was followed by tea at home with Ethel Ellward.  

The following week Norman met former Corporal John Barlow at an RNA Reunion. Further contact included a chance meeting with Stan Rose in a buffet queue!  As a result of these meetings and the interest and enjoyment they brought, an advertisement was placed in the Navy News and the Globe and Laurel   asking any Shipmates of "HMS Euryalus" interested in forming an Association to attend the Combined ex-Services Association Meeting at Bridlington 17-19 June 1988. 

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The Fifth Euryalus - C42 Dido Class Cruiser
1938 - 1957

The Fifth Euryalus - C42 Dido Class Cruiser : 1938 - 1957
(In Grand Harbour, Malta, 1951)

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Sixteen attended and despite all the bustle and toing and froing, the "HMS Euryalus Association" was commissioned on June 18 1988.  

The first AGM was held in June at the British Legion Club, Bridlington during the Combined Ex Servicemen Reunion and the first Reunion Dinner was held in the Royal Sailors Home Club Portsmouth (now called The Royal Maritime Club) in September 1989. 

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The Sixth Euryalus - F15 Leander Class Frigate
1964 - 1989

The Sixth Euryalus - F15 Leander Class Frigate : 1964 - 1989
(At sea after Ikara conversion)

Image Courtesy of www.navyphotos.co.uk

The quest had been ongoing ever since and as the word spread and the association grew, shipmates from the frigate, F15 (1964-89), were invited to join. Over recent years, by request of previous committees and with the full support of the membership as whole, the helm of the association has been turned over gradually from C42 to F15 shipmates.